


Warmth

by barkeyst



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Friends, Fatherhood, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Other, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Snippets, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 19:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14921618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barkeyst/pseuds/barkeyst
Summary: Naruto isn't alone. A fuzzy, warm and vaguely yellow thing teaches him all he needs to know to live, love, learn and become who he was meant to be from the beginning: A good heart, a strong mind, and someone to admire who grew from adversity.AU where Minato's chakra that was sealed into Naruto becomes his mental-mentor. Also where Kyuubi isn't so terrible to him because he's had someone to talk to for the years Naruto was unaware of his existence.A super slow burn, expect semi-inconsistent posting.





	1. Chapter 1

**Warmth,** A Naruto Fanfiction

Welcome everyone! I'm excited to start this off by saying I has this idea form at 3am today and I needed to bring it forward. This is my first Naruto fic on this site. Excuse me if I make some hiccups.

\- Mads

* * *

 

She _hated_ him, but they were watching. White-vested, posted at each corner of the orphanage since the boy was brought in. She lost no one when the fox attacked, yet despite was the first emotion she laid on the table. The moment she saw the soft yellow fuzz of his hair, she knew just how different he was. Who he was. It was forbidden to say out loud.

He was evil, that she was sure of.  _Babies_ cried. He never did, instead he looked to the shoddy mobile above and cooed. Babies screamed and cried when they wanted something. Naruto waited, blue eyes wide and impossibly happy whenever she loomed over the edge.

Ira doubted he had blurry vision like most three month olds. The way they moved along her face, she was certain if she brought finger paints and paper into the room, he could recreate every small detail - even the mole on her cheek.

Ira hated him because everyone told her too. Otherwise, she might have kept smiling when the caretaker checked in. The hummed lullabies would continue as she stroked the inch-wide marks - one, two, three, four, five, six - on his cheeks, just as his mother might have.

She was afraid of him, he was everything that was taken away from her just to weeks prior to the disaster of October tenth. She was terrified to be caught admiring him, so she pulled him from the crib, tugged down a side of her shirt and covered his face with a soft blanket.

What would happen if the public discovered someone cared? Naruto, she imagined, would starve. His gummy smile would disappear, and the baby boy that replaced the one she miscarried would be taken away.

She imagined the worst...

So it came true.

 

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Warmth,** A Naruto Fanfiction

Here's chapter two! Enjoy!

* * *

 

When he was taken away, Naruto was learning. He was a smart boy, having intelligent, wordless conversations with worn, stuffed toys that the caretaker said he didn't deserve. He was plotting against them, she said. Nothing good came out of a talking baby. At least, that was how life was for the little ball of sunshine. Everything had been  _fine_. All had been going by so carefully,  _nicely_ , that something had to go wrong.

The son of Minato had to prove his genius. Blue eyes to her own, in the sight of someone who hated him most, he spoke his first word:

"Maaa." He was nine months old. What was perfectly acceptable for children his age to do was damnable, all because of the fox its busy little seal. 

Ira was horrified. He looked at her and she knew it wasn't 'just a noise' or a bridge to a bigger word. It wasn't marzipan or marsupial, malignant or even the color of the dress she was wearing. Her voice rose in a fiery swell of despair as the old woman's hands - the thing of nightmares-  grabbed him by each tiny arm and yanked the boy from his hand-me-down blocks. 

The ANBU did nothing, and if they did, the Hokage did _**nothing**_. She didn't decide which was worse.

Her funeral was held a week later.

Apparently suicide, no B&E, no assault for being the nanny of Konoha's most hated child. Just a sad end for someone who gave their love without prejudice.

* * *

Naruto was two when he forgot her. The memory of Ira blurred. She was wrong about a few things: He wasn't a demon. He had not memorized her face and it would not find its way on finger-painted paper.

The boy grew, sore and tired, hungry and alone. The touch he received was harsh and the children, the adults, strangers and known alike were not reprimanded for it. 

On this day in particular, he looked up at his caretaker and was filled with  _something_ _so intense_ that he stepped forward, face past the hand that made his face sting.

And in a flash, through her or not, beyond,  _somewhere_ else, he was gone. The forces watching over him burst in frenzied alarm...

While Naruto found himself, ankle deep in a creek just outside the village, crying, excited because the thing that made it happen spoke to him, a loud humming hello filled his head.

 _He wasn't alone_. 


	3. Chapter Three

**Warmth** ,a Naruto Fanfiction

Goodness gravy, thanks to all of my new followers and the kudos. Here, have a new post. Do you guys like the format? I write differently, I feel, but I personally believe it is easier to follow the tone? Thanks again, bless.

* * *

 

The first time Naruto heard the voice was not the last, but it was the last time he left the village, sans saving Hinata. This voice, wherever it came from gave all the attention a boy needed. It fostered his curiosity, encouraged him to read things sooner than he would have... Told him frustrating secrets of the village that were forbidden. The emotions he felt, the hum filled him, _teaching_.

He was pushed into the academy a year late and that was the day that he saw the edge of the thing that spoke to him. A warm, tan hand encased in a yellow light so bright that it made any other discerning detail impossible.

He just felt like he needed to hold it. 

That something... the man, he decided, told him he couldn't yet. " _Some day, very far in the future, I will get to hold your hand again_."

Which confused him.

He had _forgotten_ Ira, the one who fed him, stroked his cheeks, ran hands through soft hair. Who was this that promised such things, and why could he not be held now when it was all he wanted? When had he ever been loved?

His teacher threw a question at him. The yellow noise inside whipped the answer faster than he realized. It had spoke to the classroom. But that was his own voice, and he did learn it, didn't he?

" _I have always been meant to help you. Since the day you were born_." The fuzzy, tan-handed blur spoke again. When he daydreamed, he almost saw the blur smile, bearing a wide grin that matched his own.

A dark-eyed boy, the one he would find his soul tied to in a most impossible way looked to Naruto as he sank into his chair. The whiskered boy disappeared inside himself, some kind of happiness that didn't say 'I was right' shone in blue eyes.

It colored him curious.


	4. Chapter Four

**Warmth** , a Naruto Fanfiction

Hey all, thanks for the support so far. Scrounged up a few ideas and thought I'd write the next chapter. If you'd like to see something happen in future chapters, don't be a stranger and leave a comment.

* * *

Sasuke was a persistent boy. Even after the clan massacre, with budding rage in his heart and a promise to kill within it, when something interested him the boy had to super sleuth it.

Naruto was his subject, of course. The sunshine haired boy made a large transformation in less than a weeks time. It seemed absolutely absurd - impossible, really. What could have done this to him? Was it in any way similar to his own story? Similar enough, even though he caught him daydreaming in class, drawing slow, thick circles on his paperwork.

Iruka wasn't happy about the suddenly severe lack of interest Naruto had in the lessons either. But each time he called upon his student, the answer was right there. As if Naruto having calmed down had somehow made him so much _smarter_. 

His teacher wondered if Naruto had been eaten by the beast inside. Wondered when the Kyūbi would strike again... And maybe it would come to finish the job.

First, his parents.

Then... 

"Naruto-san," Sasuke announced his presence, ripping the blue eyed boy from whatever he had been lost in and subsequently, Iruka from his fearful thoughts. Rather than anger, there was shyness. A soft blush - perhaps embarrassed by how he had acted before - stained his face.

"Sasuke-san," Naruto mumbled, scooting over. It was then that their teacher realized Sasuke had grabbed his texts and moved over, away from the gaggle of girls with the intent to join the whiskered boy.

The voice in his head muttered fond things about Sasuke's family. Mikoto and Itachi were spoken about with such fondness that the boy felt like _he_ knew them. 

" _He's very strong for surviving through sadness. Just like you, Naruto_." The yellow blur hummed, wrapping him in a proud warmth. It felt like the hug he imagined his mom or dad would have given... And when he refocused, he realized his face was buried in dark hair. His own arms were around Sasuke's neck.

Truer to character, he reacted vibrantly, flailing away, hiding the small trails that happy tears left behind. He fell from his chair and the initial shock of the class was flipped to laughter. 

"Baka," Sasuke spat, tugging his collar high to hide the blush, the own twinge of happiness that someone had to courage to reach out past his defenses. Naruto would with certainty become his best friend.

"Teme," Naruto crowed back and recovered.

They passed a note the rest of class, drawing, distracted.

The yellow fuzz inside hummed happily and turned to the cage, hands on hips, seen in full only by the creature he caged.

" _Alright, Kurama. Now that he's distracted, talk_."

 


	5. Shell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I last posted. Been busy working and getting ready to move. Here's another chapter. A little shortie, I think. This chapter deals with trauma, as a warning.

**Warmth,** a Naruto Fanfiction.

* * *

 

Their friendship had started in class, but began to venture further... Yet not by much. Neither of them were ready to share their ghosts. How Naruto grew up without a mother or father, a stranger to familial love. How he knew hunger intimately and was embarrassed by the hatred he felt for those who never had to worry. How he wondered where his mother and father had died and who they were.

The yellow shape inside of him squirmed uncomfortably. So did the fox. He felt neither of their reactions, only his, and he did nothing about it.

What he did witness, however, was Sasuke's descent.

Sasuke imagined ghosts. Alone in the compound, their stains still soaking soil red, wood, walls, clothes, baskets - He imagined his mother just behind the door as he opened it, smiling. She wasn't dead in his imaginings. Neither was father, who was holed up in his study. Itachi -- Itachi. No, he wasn't a ghost. The man was ... The  **boy** was... The last Uchiha of Konohagakure stiffened. He had never once considered his brother's age. Compared to the duties he had taken on and those that were stacked on top by others, it must have been so much, too much - _unbearable_.

The pencil in his hand snapped and splintered. He felt pain but didn't dare look down. Instead, like a volcano, a shout interrupted their sensei. Iruka dropped his chalk in surprise.

"He was a child!"

Redness took over Sasuke's face, his breath shallow and fast. Tan hands pried the pencil from his hand and forced it open, picking out little pieces from pale skin. He looked over at Naruto's face with wide eyes, unaware of what he was saying, what was coming out of the other boy's mouth and his own. But he saw Iruka come up the stairs swiftly, worry stained his face.

The nurse had told him trauma sets in later, at times. There is a bubble and something always manages to pop it. It could form again. It also could disappear and leave the mess in the open. He caught sight of his palm and was lifted just as a scream tore the air. Naruto followed, scrambling over their coursework, gathering it.

The yellow blur encouraged him to bring as many distractions as he could. It would help, Sasuke needed it, he was so young. So small and he didn't deserve for Mikoto and Fugaku and--

It all blurred in his head. Blue eyes blurry with tears, crying for Sasuke. Iruka didn't protest. The other children watched. Green eyes, blue eyes, brown eyes...

 _Sasuke_.


	6. Armor

**Warmth** , a Naruto Fanfiction.

* * *

The last time Sasuke had been here was just after the massacre. The blood of his mother and father plastered to every available inch of his right side. His classmates didn't  _know_. They didn't understand loss as he did. It had all been so sudden. They associated it innocently with sunrise and sunset, fireflies awake and asleep.

But no child in that class had seen family disemboweled. Eyes missing from children. Parents collapsed on top of their daughters and sons in a last pitch attempt to spare them. Some still were gssping as he ran to find his parents, begging him to run among the screams.

He sat there blankly, eyes to a bare wall, the familiar pop of orange and blond to the side of his body he preferred to ignore. It remembered, it was hated. It burned. The smell of antiseptic and the steady beep of machines consumed him.

_Why did his parents not fight back?_

"Sasuke." He heard all of their voices in Naruto's. The tone he bore held caution, grief and care. It was all so much more than he wanted to handle, wanted to feel in the moment.

Warm hands, rougher than they should be, littered with scars from stories untold overlapped his own. Sasuke's face grew blotchy, tears travelled hot down his cheeks.

"Why did Itachi kill everyone?" He asked, though he didn't expect much from his orphaned friend. He had his family ripped away from him so much sooner. How could he mourn what he never had? He started to doubt, considering his older brother's age, affection and loyalty that power was not enough of an excuse.

Naruto's reply dried his tears. It surprised him.

"Well... I'm not sure." He swallowed thickly, fingers clenched gently over his own. "When we see him, why don't we ask?"

The yellow blur hummed in pride. Confidence filled the gaps. It did not erase the pain, the memories, but it certainly birthed determination. Sasuke would find his truth with his best friend tucked close by his side.

 


End file.
